


Teasing/Courtship

by FeralCreed



Series: Losers Bingo 2019/2020 [2]
Category: The Losers (2010), The Losers (Comic)
Genre: F/M, Smoking, Team as Family, You're Welcome, messing around on a family vacation, people realize that Aisha and Cougar are dating because she keeps stealing his hat, random mentions of night birds, shirtless Cougar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22830394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeralCreed/pseuds/FeralCreed
Summary: The tags pretty much explain this one. Honestly I'm having the time of my life naming these fics after the bingo squares I'm filling rather than having to come up with actual titles. Titles kill me.
Relationships: Aisha al-Fadhil/Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez
Series: Losers Bingo 2019/2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1640743
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5
Collections: Losers Bingo 2019/20





	Teasing/Courtship

Aisha trails her fingertips down the railing of the staircase as she slowly descends the steps. The house is quiet. Strangely quiet. Evidently the Losers had gotten sentimental, because they'd decided to put their money together for a week at a mountain cabin. Pooch brought Jolene and Pup, Jensen brought Jess and Beth, and Clay had come alone – which was probably best for all involved. Cougar was still telling his teammates that the two of them were just friends, which continued to amuse her. She'd told Clay what was going on between them when he'd tried hitting on her. 

Jensen, though, never seems to realize when anything is going on with anyone but his computer. Pooch has loudly declared, more than once, that he doesn't want to know about any of their nasty sexual shit, which likely means he tunes out any details about relationships. And she doesn't think that Jolene or Jess have been around often enough to pick up on anyone's dating status. 

She and Cougar never made any decision to keep their relationship secret. They just never mentioned it to anyone. If they figure it out, they'll figure it out. And if they don't, well, she won't really be surprised. Men. 

But Cougar, for all that he isn't perfect, is attentive not only to her, but in general. Snipers are like that, she's found. They notice everything about people. And for all that their relationship isn't perfect – none of them are – she likes being the center of his attention. It can be too much for people. But she can match him in anything but his sniping. Everything he gives her, she can give him back, and she's seen the look on his face when she does. He admires her, and though he's protective of her, he's more than capable of standing back to let her handle things by herself. One of her fondest memories is when a man called her a slut for refusing to dance with him, and her darling Cougar had simply held his hand out to take her clutch. 

She's surprised that she's his type, honestly. Clay didn't surprise her. But as for Cougar, well, she'd always pictured him settling down with someone more quiet and... sane. Yet he'd chosen her, strange as she was. And continued to choose her day after day. Considering that she chose him as well, maybe he wasn't doing the wrong thing. She'd agreed to come with him on vacation, at any rate. To what could almost be considered a family vacation, considering that the Losers were all that Cougar had admitted to having in his life. 

Considering that she doesn't have anyone else either, they made a hell of a match. She pauses at the foot of the staircase. Where has everyone else gone? Jensen's never quiet for long. None of them are, besides Cougar. The sound of distant shrieking makes her raise an eyebrow, and she crosses the kitchen to look out the window. Ah, that explains it. They're all out by the lake. It looks like Pooch and Pup are sitting on the dock with the others out in the water. Evidently her post-coital nap was deeper than she'd expected if she hadn't heard them all leave. 

She checks the coffeemaker and is relieved to see that the pot is half full. Jensen, no doubt. She's rarely seen him without some kind of sugar or caffeine close at hand. After pouring herself a cup, and grabbing a Gatorade out of the fridge for Cougar in case he wants it, she steps outside. The air is warm but not humid. She can see why they all wanted to go swimming. She wanders down the dock, the boards warm under her feet, and smirks a little when Pooch visibly startles as she walks into his field of vision. 

Cougar's hat is hanging on one of the poles, and she makes eye contact with Pooch as she sets down the Gatorade by an empty chair and leans over to pick up the hat. His eyes widen as she runs her fingertip around the rim and then sets it on her head. She sits down and crosses her ankles in front of her. It's a nice day and she's glad that she came looking for them. 

“You know you're gonna be dead when Cougar sees you wearing that, right?” Pooch asks after a few minutes of silence. Pup fusses quietly in his lap. 

She looks over at him and smirks. “Oh, don't worry, darling, I hurt him more than he's ever hurt me. And I'd even say he likes it.” 

It's pure bullshit, because she and Cougar have never intentionally hurt each other since they started dating, sexually or otherwise. There's been fights. Of course there's been fights. But they always find a way to make up after it, and truthfully, despite the long list of horrible things she's done to people, she hates the thought of harming him somehow. She's perfectly willing to lie in order to mess with someone, however. And Pooch seems to be particularly susceptible to falling for whatever she comes up with, judging by the way he chokes on air and gives her a horrified look as if he can actually picture it happening. 

She rolls her eyes and gazes out over the water. Jensen, Jess, and Jolene are all floating near one other, earnestly discussing something. Clay, it seems, has been doing laps, because he's halfway down the lake and moving away from them. That just leaves the question of where the hell Cougar is... 

He suddenly surfaces at the edge of the dock and Aisha will deny how badly she startles at it. He smirks at her and folds his arms across the edge of the dock. She scowls at him and he simply winks. That turns her expression into a slightly lesser scowl. She can tell from the pleased look on his face, the one that he only has when he looks at her sometimes, the one that she won't admit to liking as much as she does. He pulls himself out of the water and squeezes the extra water out of his hair. She's standing by the time he's done, and reaches out to set his hat back on his head. 

“Now you look more like yourself,” she says, a hint of fondness in her tone. He's as quiet as he usually is, but he does give her a little bit of a smile before stepping into her space to reach past her for a towel. The way he maintains eye contact while doing so makes her shiver. Pooch, she realizes, is staring at them like they've both turned into fire-breathing alien lizards. He must finally be figuring out that they're together. That, or one of them has a spider in their hair, and he hasn't figured out a way to tell them yet. 

“Did you bring me coffee too?” he asks. 

“Gatorade,” she corrects him, and returns his grin. She sits down on the edge of the dock and isn't surprised when he soon sits down next to her, the lid missing from his drink. She leans her shoulder against his for a moment before leaning away. They sit there quietly and she watches Jensen and Jolene float around the lake. 

“Okay, I'm just gonna say it,” Pooch eventually says. “What is this?” 

“What's what?” Aisha asks. Cougar looks over at her with an amused little smile. “You've never seen two dating people spend time with one another? I thought you were married, you had to have dated Jolene before that happened.” 

“You're _dating?_ ” he nearly shrieks. 

“She just said that,” Cougar drawls. 

“You're dating,” Pooch repeats. 

Aisha briefly considers making a comment on how slow he is on the uptake, but settles for straddling Cougar's lap and kissing him deeply. She hears a strangled noise behind them from Pooch, but also a much closer and much nicer hum under Cougar's breath. She kisses him again, then a third time, before returning to her former place at his side. His hand moves to her back, slipping up under the hem of her shirt and his thumb rubbing little circles along a spot on her spine. It's nice. He's nice. 

“When did this happen, though?” 

She sighs and closes her eyes. And here she thought that her little display would have shut him up for at least a few hours. Fortunately, Cougar's the one who answers for her, giving a succinct account of how they'd slept together shortly after Bolivia and ended up coming back to each other after that time and again until they'd finally made it official. 

“So... almost three years? You've been dating almost three years?” 

Aisha sighs and lays back against the boards of the dock with her hands behind her head. Cougar seems to feel the same way, because he turns to lean his back against the same pole she'd taken his hat from. They leave Pooch to try to wrap his head around the idea, and Aisha only opens her eyes when she hears another person climbing up onto the dock. Looks like Clay eventually got tired. She watches as he pauses on the dock and takes in the site of her and Cougar next to each other, before he shakes his head and visibly decides not to ask. 

Jolene and Jensen get out not long afterwards, shortly before the sun will begin to set. It's a smart choice, Aisha thinks idly, getting out while it's still warm, and having a few hours before dinner to shower and change. And it saves her from having to listen to Pooch and Clay talk any longer about some football game that recently happened between the Army and the Air Force. Jensen raises an eyebrow and asks what she and Cougar are doing lying so close to one another. Honestly, you'd think he'd never seen them together before. 

Pooch inhales, but Aisha glares at him and he keeps his mouth shut. She gets up, well aware that Cougar is staring at her ass as she bends over to pick up her empty coffee cup. She gives him a smile, then Pooch. If possible, he looks even more scared. It's more than a little gratifying to see the expression on his face. And it only reinforces her idea that Cougar is something special to be able to keep up with her without flinching or being afraid. He's certainly something, she thinks. She steals his hat again, winks at him at the sharp look he gives her, and sways her hips as she walks down the dock toward the house. 

“That was weird,” Jensen comments. 

“What was?” Jolene asks, looking up from where she's now holding Pup. 

“Cougar and Aisha's weird-ass flirting,” Pooch cuts in, giving Cougar a vaguely grossed out look. 

“You and Aisha have been flirting?” Jensen repeats, casting Cougar a startled look. 

“Jensen,” Clay sighs, “Cougar and Aisha have been _dating_.” Everyone stares at him. “What, y'all didn't know? How could you not know?” 

“That's... interesting,” Jolene says, hesitating before looking over towards Jess as if searching for any clue as to how she should respond. The two women share a look for a long time before both shrugged and seemed to mutually decide not to comment further. 

“For three years,” Cougar says, to stave off the inevitable questions. “Soon after Bolivia.” He gets up and stretches before gathering his damp hair to tie it back. No doubt there are plenty of more questions from his teammates, but he decides to ignore them all in favor of following Aisha. They have more than enough to talk about among themselves for at least an hour. Evidently his and Aisha's recently discovered relationship has immediately become a topic of interest. 

She's waiting for him in the kitchen, leaning back against the counter, his hat tipped low over her face. He moves it up with the tip of one finger and is met by dark eyes and a confident smirk. God, he loves her. He leans in to kiss her, but she ducks him, her fingers trailing across his bare torso and the hem of his swim shorts before she laughs and runs up the stairs. He follows her in seconds and utterly ignores the sounds of the others coming up toward the house. Aisha is far more important.

* * *

Dinner is a typically riotous and cheerful affair. There's seven adults, a preteen, and a toddler. Cougar mostly stays quiet, winding a lock of Aisha's hair around his finger. She put it up in a bun earlier but several strands of hair have already come loose and he can never seem to keep his hands away from it when it's down. She leans across to scoop some mashed potatoes off his plate and he simply sighs under his breath before reaching over to steal a sip of her drink. 

“Okay,” Jensen begins. “Not that I don't understand this, because you're both hot and probably sexually active adults, and you were in close proximity with the whole Bolivia thing, and the high of being back in the States was a great time to develop a relationship, and we actually haven't had anyone trying to kill us since then-” 

“Get to the point or shut up,” Clay interrupts. 

“How did this happen and when were you going to tell us?” 

“I already told Clay,” Aisha says, shrugging one shoulder and batting her lashes at him. “He tried to flirt with me so I told him that I'd chosen someone else. Maybe if you ever noticed, you would have asked, and we would have told you.” 

“That's fair,” Pooch says with a nod. Pup drops a sippy cup on the floor and he bends over to pick it up and put it back on the high chair. 

“Okay, but how, though?” Jensen asks. 

“Well, when two people enjoy a lot of athletic, borderline competitive sex,” Aisha begins with a grin. 

“Oh, god, no, stop it right there,” Jensen tells her, making a face. 

Aisha laughs and sits back in her chair, looking pleased with herself. Cougar rolls his eyes and finally gets around to stealing his hat back again. She winks at him before standing up and going out to the porch attached to the house. She can tell, from the reflection of the room in the windows, that Cougar is watching her leave. As he well should. She's a goddamn catch and she should be appreciated as such. 

He joins her after half an hour. By then, she's rolled a cigarette and is only waiting for him to hold his lighter out. A wisp of smoke signals his success and he perches on the railing next to her. He's quiet, but he almost always is, so it doesn't bother her too much. Eventually he reaches out and tucks her hair behind her ear. 

“I found your note,” he says quietly. 

She gives him a rare, true smile and leans into his touch for a moment. By now, her stealing his hat has became a somewhat common occurrence. Enough that he jokes about getting her her own hat so that she'll leave his alone. There's never any real hurt or malice behind his complaints. She'd still found something that made it a little more interesting for her, though. Every so often she would write a short note, fold it, and tuck it into the headband of the hat she'd just stolen. Nothing too _serious_ or _emotional_ , just a few little words of appreciation. Once she found out that he kept them all in a shoebox, she made it a slightly more frequent thing. 

“What do you think made them realize that we were together?” she asks. 

Cougar laughs quietly and the corner of his mouth turns up in a smile. With the moonlight pouring over him, silvering his hair and shoulders, pooling shadows in his collarbones and across his stomach... he's beautiful. Aisha wonders sometimes how she's managed to keep him for three years. 

“I don't think we could make it any more obvious,” he replies. 

“I steal your hat as a joke and you just smile instead of eviscerating me. I don't think there's much more that we could do to rub it in their faces. Remember the last time Jensen tried to steal it because he saw me doing it and thought he could get away with it too?” 

“Maybe if Jensen wrote me notes, I would let him do it.” 

Aisha gives an unladylike snort. “No, you wouldn't. I can get away with a thousand things that nobody else can even think of doing around you. I might even be able to get away with touching your rifle.” 

He gives her an unimpressed look and she laughs. Then she passes her cigarette over to him and watches how the smoke curls around his fingers and up his chin. It's not very quiet out, with the warm chatter of the others in the background and the occasional call of loons and whippoorwills across the lake. But when it is quiet, both their minds tend to turn to darker things, so she's glad for it. She and Cougar have been through a lot – maybe it's about time they find a home. And she can't help but want the people inside the house to be a part of it. 

Pooch, Jolene, Pup, Jensen, Jess, Beth, Clay. They've all been Cougar's family for some time. Surprisingly, after Bolivia, she was drawn into their circle as well. She still doesn't know quite how it happened, but she's come to care for all of them. Cougar most of all, of course, because the two of them have been together for three years. But the rest of the Losers? Those are a surprise. A very welcome surprise. If they ever decide to take a new step in their relationship, she thinks with amusement, the rest of the Losers will no doubt be with them through it all. 

She minds it much less than she expected. She takes the cigarette back from Cougar and exhales a puff of smoke, watching it dissipate in front of them. Her gaze travels up to the lake and she watches the moonlight dapple over the water. It's beautiful. And so is Cougar, she thinks, glancing at him for a moment. She's as incapable of telling what the future will hold as anyone, but she has to admit that she's looking forward to it. Possibly for the first time in her life. Cougar gives her a smile and she returns it. No, she doesn't know what will happen to them the next year or month or even the next day. But she wants to find out.


End file.
